After weeks of searching for a missing mother in North West England, police have confirmed her death. A body was found over the weekend in the River Wyre near where the 45-year-old was last seen. At a press conference on Monday evening, the police confirmed that it was the missing person. The cause of death was not known. The search had kept the country in suspense for weeks.

The woman had been missing since January 27. After the mother of two had dropped off her nine- and six-year-old daughters at school in the morning, she walked her dog. She had attended a work switch via her mobile phone. Dog and cell phone were soon found, but there was no trace of the 45-year-old.

A police report recently caused a stir, according to which the woman was an alcoholic and that the problems had recently increased again because of her menopause. Leading politicians criticized the publication as an inadmissible invasion of privacy.

In a statement from the family, read at the press conference, the relatives accused the British media of exploiting the missing person case and reporting it extensively, despite being asked for privacy. This should not happen to any other family. "Leave us alone now," the letter continued - and about the woman who died: "She was the center of our lives, which made our lives so special."